flatten tang on a forged full tang blade without removing forge finish on ricasso?

C

coldsteelburns

Joined
Aug 2, 2010
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I have a question .. I been meaning to ask this for a while but havn't gotten around to it till now..

After forging a "full tang" blade, how do you guys (who forge knives with forged finishes) go about making to tang perfectly flat so the scales will lay against them perfectly, but without grinding off the forge/scale finish on the ricasso just in front of the scales?

I have seen guys taper tangs "after" forging a blade and be able get it flat to attach scales to it while being able to leave the ricasso untouched, even with scales that have fronts that are a bit rounded or curve back in some way or etc. This makes the option of just sanding right up to when the front of the scales would end in a straight line not very helpful, cause if there were some curve to the front of the scales, there would be gaps where the front of the curved scales would go past that "straight line" that was established by grinding the tang flat to where it terminates with a straight line from spine to bottom of the handle.

So I want to know what methods you guys use, the tang doesnt have to be tapered, although it would be nice to know how to achive this look that way as well. I just want to be able to get my tang nice an flat to attach the scales but without removing any of the forge finish from the ricasso just in from of the scales..

I dont have a disc grinder btw, but I do have a 2x72 with a ceramic platen.

Please help, this problem has been bugging the crap out of me forever! To help understand what I mean if you don't, a great example of what I'm taking about would be a lot of the knives made by "Claudio Sobral from CAS Knives." He does some great forge finish/texture work while at the same time being able to get some pretty damn thin tapered tangs while leaving all the texture in front of the scales untouched along with a lot of his scales fronts being curved. Again, the tang doesnt have to be tapered, but it sure would be nice to know how it's done that way as well, if at all possible for ya guys to explain.

Thanks for any and all help in advance! There has be this monkey on my back, and once I figure out how to do this, he should be gone :D

-Paul
www.youtube.com/Lsubslimed
 
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What an interesting question.
The whole subject of where tapers begin and end and how to achieve that is one that I've been paying a lot of attention to in looking at knives.
Hope someone chimes in with that answer that makes us say, "oh, of course that's how you do it, how obvious once you know."
 
Seems like to me if you're going to leave a forge finish on a knife a small gap or two would be inconsequential, black liner and black dyed epoxy would probably look good
 
John Katt said:
Seems like to me if you're going to leave a forge finish on a knife a small gap or two would be inconsequential, black liner and black dyed epoxy would probably look good
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That's it, bud. At least for me. Pay more attention to getting the forging just right and accept the finish for what it is. You'd be surprised how clean it can get.
coldsteelburns said:
... There has be this monkey on my back, and once I figure out how to do this, he should be gone :Dwww.youtube.com/Lsubslimed
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I've got bad news about your monkey problem... he's got friends lined up behind him.:p
 
Rick Marchand said:
That's it, bud. At least for me. Pay more attention to getting the forging just right and accept the finish for what it is. You'd be surprised how clean it can get.
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Alrighty then I got one right, I'll be standing by the mailbox with unbridled anticipation, awaiting the arrival of my gold star teach :0)

Filler is also a carpenters best friend, especially when taking on a padawan learner ;0)
 
Paul- I always forge the tapered tang in ofcourse. After I get the heat treat done I mark with a sharpie exactly where I'm going to make the scales start behind the choil. I'll then start flattening the tang starting from the butt of the knife working my way up about an inch or so behind where I've marked the scales to start. After I get the tang nice and flat, I'll concentrate on the last inch I left making very sure I don't pass the line I've drawn where the scales start. I just blend in the flattened tang up to the point I've marked and that's about it. I've noticed Claudio and Murray Carter doing something similar and grinding the tang clean and flat as well.
Hope this helps. If not pm me and I'll trying to draw up an illustration. :)
 
Thanks Mason! That deffinitely helps me understand better. Do you do it all on ur flat platen and hold it just as it the normal stock removal-ist would taper a tang? And how do you go about gettin that last inch carefully, by hand or on the grinder well? And yes an illistration would help a ton!! :D Although I'm not sure if I know how to PM ya here.. Thanks bro :)

-Paul
www.youtube.com/Lsubslimed
 
IMO the spine would look odd with a random ridge going down it. Plus my scales are never cut straight up front so I guess that might be why I'm having a hard time imaging it. :)
 
never done this but here's a thought: make it a frame handle and your problem is solved
 
haha Don, you're a tease man! :grumpy: :D

I know what your talkin about Karl, I've seen you do that on a few of your integrals, like that "illi-sota" beauty :thumbup: I love the way those turned out btw But I don't think I could pull it off like you do, I'm just tryin to deal with this more basic step.

I think I got it now thanks to all the help from Mason, thanks dude! :) But if anybody else has any other tips or input to add, please DO! ;)

-Paul
www.youtube.com/Lsubslimed
 
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